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Shall I compare thee to a summer's day? / Shakespeare
Sonnet 18, often alternately titled Shall I compare thee to a summer's day?, is one of the best-known of 154 sonnets written by English poet and playwright William Shakespeare. About Part of the Fair Youth sequence (which comprises sonnets 1-126 in the accepted numbering stemming from the first edition in 1609), it is the first of the cycle after the opening sequence now described as the Procreation sonnets. Most scholars now agree that the original subject of the poem, the beloved to whom the poet is writing, is a male, though the poem is commonly used to describe a woman. In the sonnet, the speaker compares his beloved to the summer season, and argues that his beloved is better. He also states that his beloved will live on forever through the words of the poem. Scholars have found parallels within the poem to Ovid's Tristia and Amores, both of which have love themes. Detailed exegeses have revealed several double meanings within the poem, giving it a greater depth of interpretation. Paraphrase The poem starts with a flattering question to the beloved—"Shall I compare thee to a summer's day?" The beloved is both "more lovely and more temperate" than a summer's day. The speaker lists some negative things about summer: it is short—"summer's lease hath all too short a date"—and sometimes the sun is too hot—"Sometime too hot the eye of heaven shines." However, the beloved has beauty that will last forever, unlike the fleeting beauty of a summer's day. By putting his love's beauty into the form of poetry, the poet is preserving it forever. "So long as men can breathe, or eyes can see, So long lives this, and this gives life to thee." The lover's beauty will live on, through the poem which will last as long as it can be read. Context The poem is part of the Fair Youth sequence (which comprises sonnets 1-126 in the accepted numbering stemming from the first edition in 1609). It is also the first of the cycle after the opening sequence now described as the Procreation sonnets, although some scholars see it as a part of the Procreation sonnets, as it still addresses the idea of reaching eternal life through the written word, a theme of sonnets 15-17. In this view, it can be seen as part of a transition to sonnet 20's time theme.Shakespeare, William et al. The Sonnets. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1996. pg. 130 ISBN 0521294037 There are many theories about the identity of the 1609 Quarto's enigmatic dedicatee, Mr. W.H. Some scholars suggest that this poem may be expressing a hope that the Procreation sonnets despaired of: the hope of metaphorical procreation in a homosexual relationship. Other scholars have pointed out that the order in which the sonnets are placed may have been the decision of publishers and not of Shakespeare. This introduces the possibility that Sonnet 18 was originally intended for a woman.Schiffer, James. Shakespeare's Sonnets. New York: Garland Pub, 1999. pg. 124. ISBN 0815323654 Form and argument Sonnet 18 is a typical English or Shakespearean sonnet. It consists of three quatrains followed by a couplet, and has the characteristic rhyme scheme of abab cdcd efef gg. The poem has the argument, or verbal structure, of an Italian or Petrarchan Sonnet. Petrarchan sonnets typically discussed the love and beauty of a beloved, often an unattainable love, but not always. It also contains a volta, or shift in the poem's subject matter, beginning with the third quatrain.Preminger, Alex and T. Brogan. The New Princeton Encyclopedia of Poetry and Poetics. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1993. pg. 894 ISBN 0691021236 Exegesis "Complexion" in line 6, can have 2 meanings: 1) The outward appearance of the face as compared with the sun ("the eye of heaven") in the previous line, or 2) the older sense of the word in relation to the 4 humors. In the time of Shakespeare, "complexion" carried both outward and inward meanings, as did the word "temperate" (externally, a weather condition; internally, a balance of humours). The 1st meaning is more obvious, meaning of a negative change in his outward appearance; the 2nd meaning of "complexion" would communicate that the beloved's inner, cheerful, and temperate disposition is sometimes blotted out like the sun on a cloudy day. The word, "untrimmed" in line 8, can be taken 2 ways: First, in the sense of loss of decoration and frills, and second, in the sense of untrimmed sails on a ship. In the first interpretation, the poem reads that beautiful things naturally lose their fanciness over time. In the second, it reads that nature is a ship with sails not adjusted to wind changes in order to correct course. This, in combination with the words "nature's changing course", creates an oxymoron: the unchanging change of nature, or the fact that the only thing that does not change is change. This line in the poem creates a shift from the mutability of the first eight lines, into the eternity of the last six. Both change and eternity are then acknowledged and challenged by the final line. "Ow'st" in line 10 can also carry 2 meanings equally common at the time: "ownest" and "owest". Many readers interpret it as "ownest", as do many Shakespearean glosses ("owe" in Shakespeare's day, was sometimes used as a synonym for "own"). However, "owest" delivers an interesting view on the text. It conveys the idea that beauty is something borrowed from nature—that it must be paid back as time progresses. In this interpretation, "fair" can be a pun on "fare", or the fare required by nature for life's journey. Other scholars have pointed out that this borrowing and lending theme within the poem is true of both nature and humanity. Summer, for example, is said to have a "lease" with "all too short a date." This monetary theme is common in many of Shakespeare's sonnets, as it was an everyday theme in his budding capitalistic society. Recognition In 2001 or 2002, guitarist and singer David Gilmour of Pink Floyd recorded a musical interpretation of Sonnet 18 at his home studio aboard the historic, 90-foot houseboat the Astoria. A video of Gilmour singing the sonnet was released as an extra on the 2002 DVD David Gilmour in Concert.Mike Springer, "http://www.openculture.com/2015/03/pink_floyds_david_gilmour_sings_shakespeares_sonnet_18.html Pink Floyd’s David Gilmour Sings Shakespeare’s Sonnet 18], Open Culture, March 6, 2015. Web, Oct. 22, 2017. Composer and conductor Michael Kamen set the sonnet to music for his 2002 album, When Love Speaks (a benefit album for London's Royal Academy for the Dramatic Arts). Sonnet 18 is sung on the album by Bryan Ferry. A special benefit concert to celebrate the release of the album was held on February 10, 2002 at the Old Vic Theatre in London, but Ferry did not attend. Gilmour appeared and sang the sonnet in his place. Paul Kelly set it to music for his 2016 album, Seven Sonnets and a Song. References *Alden, Raymond (1916). The Sonnets of Shakespeare, with Variorum Reading and Commentary. Houghton-Mifflin, Boston. *Baldwin, T. W. (1950). On the Literary Genetics of Shakspeare's Sonnets. University of Illinois Press, Urbana. *Booth, Stephen (1977). Shakespeare's Sonnets. Yale University Press, New Haven. *Dowden, Edward (1881). Shakespeare's Sonnets. London. *Hubler, Edwin (1952). The Sense of Shakespeare's Sonnets. Princeton University Press, Princeton. *Schoenfeldt, Michael (2007). The Sonnets: The Cambridge Companion to Shakespeare’s Poetry. Patrick Cheney, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge. *Tyler, Thomas (1989). Shakespeare’s Sonnets. London D. Nutt. *Vendler, Helen (1997). The Art of Shakespeare's Sonnets. Cambridge: Harvard University Press. Notes External links *Paraphrase and analysis (Shakespeare-online) *Sparknotes' reading of the sonnet *Commentary on the poem *Modern English read through of sonnet 18 Category:British poems Category:LGBT poetry Category:Sonnets by William Shakespeare Category:Text of poem Category:16th-century poems Category:English poems Category:Love poems Category:Sonnets